Liotta, Morales and Cruz in La Linea

Ray Liotta, Esai Morales and Valerie Cruz will star in James Cotten’s La Linea, a crime drama loosely based on the infamous Arellano Felix drug cartel, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Andy Garcia is in early talks to play the small but pivotal role of an ill kingpin of a Tijuana drug cartel whose violent lieutenant (Morales) takes over the operation and becomes a loose cannon.

Liotta will play a veteran Los Angeles-based assassin who is hired to kill him. Cruz will play Olivia, a meth addict living in Tijuana who is struggling to kick the habit for the sake of her daughter.

Armand Assante, Joe Morton, Danny Trejo, Kevin Cage and Jason Connery are in final negotiations to join the ensemble cast.

The producers are Geoffrey Ross and R. Ellis Frazier; Frazier also wrote the screenplay. Filming on the project from Project One Films and Ronin Film and Media Group is scheduled to begin Oct. 16 in Los Angeles and Tijuana.